A tricky letters latent puzzle from Monk.
The special instructions: all clues are normal, with their letter counts indicating the length of their solutions; however, before entry in the grid, each solution must have a letter removed from it wherever it occurs. The deleted letters, in clue order, spell out two 12-letter words related to the theme of removal.
The words in question were DISLODGEMENT and OBLITERATION, it took me a while to figure these out, in part because of my own messy handwriting and foolishness, but once they were in the going was much easier.
Once complete failure (at 15 down) which I’m going to put down to time pressure, and a couple of question marks for one or two of the later clues – maybe Monk, like me, was running out of steam at that point.
Overall, took me about 1 and a half hours. (For the clues that I managed, that is).
| Across | ||
| 1 | TREADMILL |
Box formerly put on step for exercise (9)
MILL (apparently a slang word for fight, beat, box) on TREAD (step) Entry: TREAMILL, missing letter D
|
| 6 | SHIATSU |
Acupressure requiring small pause after back has moved forward (7)
S (small) then HIATUS (pause), but with S (the back of the word) brought forward. I liked this clue. Entry: SHATSU, missing letter I
|
| 9 | NITROCELLULOSE |
Explosive matter cools until reel is formed (14)
Anagram (formed) of COOLSUNTILREEL Entry: NITROCELLULOE, mising letter S |
| 10 | SILENCE |
Still left in maths, possibly getting caught out (7)
L (left) in ScIENCE (maths, possibly), with the C missing (caught out) Entry: SIENCE, missing letter L Initially I wasn’t sure about this clue: for me, ‘still’ is an adjective, and ‘silence’ is a noun – but I stand corrected by online dictionaries |
| 11 | PLETHORIC |
Over-full helicopter out of control, dropping east (9)
Anagram (out of control) of HELICOPTeR (dropping East) Entry: PLETHRIC, missing letter O |
| 12 | WHEATSTONE BRIDGE |
Regularly censored left-wing broadsheet circulated a measure of resistance? (10,6)
Anag (circulated) of lEfT (regularly censored) WING BROADSHEET, for one of these Entry: WHEATSTONE BRIGE, missing letter D |
| 14 | GOSSIP COLUMNIST |
Press dirt resulting from their efforts (6,10)
Cryptic definition. (Which give me the heebs at the best of time, but which really throw me when it’s a genius crossword). Entry: OSSIP COLUMNIST, missing letter G
|
| 18 | LENT LILIES |
Daffy, more than once nearly telling bad porkies (4,6)
Anagram (bad) of TELLIN (nearly telling) and LIES (porkies). Entry: LNTLILIS, missing letter E Struggled for a while with the anagram fodder, trying to work out why NILE LILY or NITE LILY = daffodil. Kicked myself when I saw the answer staring me in the face. |
| 19 | MANNERS |
Etiquette displayed by married lady hosting a princess (7)
MRS (married lady) hosting princess ANNE. Nice surface Entry ANNERS, missing letter M |
| 20 | COSMETOLOGISTS |
They make beautiful old piece of wood into new sitcom sets (14)
O LOG (old piece of wood) in an anagram (new) of SITCOM SETS. |
| 21 | GENESIS |
Book an ageing rock band (7)
Double definition Entry: GEESIS, missing letter N
|
| 22 | ESTRANGED |
During arrest, rang editor, getting cut off (9)
Hidden answer (during) in arrESTRANGEDitor Entry: ESRANGED, missing letter T |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ROUNDISH |
One filling sandwiches with hot fat (8)
I (one) in ROUNDS (sandwiches) with H (hot) Entry: RUNDISH, missing letter O |
| 3 | ACTINOBACILLOSIS |
Second Conservative coalition bails out a problem for lower classes? (16)
Great clue, with a devious definition. Anagram (out) of S (second) C (conservative) COALITIONBAILS, for this animal disease (problem for lower classes) Entry: ACTINOACILLOSIS, missing letter B |
| 4 | ISOLDE |
Eternal lover that is embracing half of men (6)
IE (that is) embracing SOLDiers (half of men) Entry: ISODE, missing letter L |
| 5 | LIVE UP TO |
Meet mounting offensive with universal indication that more is to come (4,2,2)
Reversal (mouting) of EVIL, U (universal) PTO (indication that more is to come) Again, a great surface Entry: LVE UP TO, missing letter I
|
| 6 | SELF ESTEEM |
Pride in one’s smartphone pics with one deleted set, reportedly (4-6)
SELFiES (one’s smartphone pics, with i deleted) TEEM (sounds like TEAM) Entry: SELF ESEEM, missing letter T |
| 7 | ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN |
Everybody heads to get into idea associated with new film (3,3,10,3)
ALL (everybody) PRESIDENTS (heads) in THEME (idea) with N (new), for this 1976 film (which was apparently a book beforehand, which I didn’t know) Entry: ALL TH PRSIDNTS MN, missing letter E |
| 8 | STERLING |
Excellent flier dropping four grades? (8)
STARLING, with A dropping down to E. Not sure if I’ve seen this kind of construction before, but I like it. Entry: STELING, missing letter R |
| 13 | SOCIALITES |
After brief bash, I chanced upon extremely envious celebs? (10)
SOCk (brief bash) I ALIT (chanced upon) ES (extremely envious) Entry: SOCILITES, missing letter A |
| 15 | ???????? |
Vibrate into fragments through actions stimulated by energy (8)
Sorry, drawing a complete blank on this one. I’m sure a good night’s sleep and a fresh start tomorrow would help, but I’ve got a wedding to get to and a blog to post, so there’s no guarantee that I’ll be in any condition to figure it out. This much I do know – Entry: S-I-C-E, missing letter T |
| 16 | LIP SALVE |
Put it on to repel chaps from kissing (3,5)
Another cryptic definition. See above for my personal reservations about this form of clue, in this kind of puzzle. (Basically, I can’t hack it). |
| 17 | TIRESOME |
Using only half of ingenuity, spell out routine (8)
TIME (spell) outside (out?) RESO (half of resource[fullness?]). More than one part of this clue feels a bit tenuous to me [edit: but Gaufrid has reassured me that resource = resourcefulness – objection withdrawn]. Entry: TIRESME, missing letter O |
| 19 | NAGGER |
Scold horse having run, say, from the back? (6)
NAG (horse), then R EG (run, say) reversed (from the back) Entry: AGGER, missing letter N |
Thanks Matt
15dn is SONICATE – an anagram (stimulated) of ACTIONS plus E (energy).
Thanks, Matt. SONICATE was my LOI, mainly because it’s not in Chambers (although it is in the OED). I also share your reservations about the cryptic definitions.
Thanks for the blog. SONICATE also my LOI. I enjoyed this puzzle very much – tricky but satisfying.
Thanks for the blog. I’m deeply impressed that this took you only 90 minutes or so – I liked the missing letter mechanism, but found the clues too hard -only getting about half 🙁 . Although I didn’t think SONICATE was too bad – each to his own!
Just a thought – shouldn’t the clue for 18a have been ‘Daffies…’ ? Obviously it would spoil the surface, but I don’t see how you can read ‘Daffy’ as plural
Mr Beaver @5
Yes I had a similar thought about how the plural is indicated. However, I think (in agreement with the blog) that “more than once” must be part of the definition – hence we have a number of daffodils.
Thank you very much for the blog, Matt – like Mr Beaver@4 I too am deeply impressed & only managed about half of the puzzle. My main problem was with the theme words; I so wanted to fit in “pantechnicon” & couldn’t!
I’ve been doing “Genius” puzzles since their inception & only a couple of times before have I been unable to complete one correctly in the time (and in each of those cases I was only stuck on one answer!). So, grudging thanks to Monk for your *sterling work and for bringing me down to size – I’d take my hat off to you if I was wearing one!
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings – at least I won’t have to waste time looking to see if I’ve won!
*8d is one I missed – an excellent clue now that Matt has explained it.
Hi all, thanks for the comments, and in particular to Gaufrid for the completion. In retrospect I would like to add that I think these kinds of puzzle are a real triumph of grid design. The restrictions that the setter places on himself or herself are very tight, and to come up with a puzzle like this is a real feat. Thank you monk
Each to his own, as Mr Beaver said @4. Because of familiarity with the technique at work, SONICATE was one of my first in.
I got stuck on 7 down for quite some time. The interactive online and print versions had the enumeration as (3,10,3). I eventually checked the temporary Genius page, where it was given correctly as (3,3,10,3), whereupon the answer fell into place immediately.
A real tour de force from Monk. If I were going to be pedantic, I might say that a Wheatstone Bridge (12a) is a measurer of resistance, rather than a measure, but on reflection, I don’t think I’ll even mention it. 😉
Thanks to blogger and commenters. Now that you mention it 😉 , Tom_I@9, Chambers has “MEASURE, noun, #8: an instrument for finding the extent of anything …”. Only other things to add are: Long Live The CD, the distilled essence of cryptic clueing for some setters, and; as a result of repeated clue reviewing, setter-editor interaction and random order of initial clueing, setters never simply “run out of steam” when compiling! I’ve even read that some expect the gimmes to be at the end of the down clues! Finally, all credit to Ross Beresford’s Sympathy package for bringing to life the puzzle concept, making it no “real feat” on my part.
I actually didn’t do this crossword, so I could stop here.
However, I do not.
May I conclude that Monk is now part of the Guardian family?
You know what happened to Vlad.
After having set some Geniuses he recently made his appearance into the dailies as well.
Is this what is going to happen to Monk too?
I surely won’t object.
In my opinion, Monk doesn’t need the special Guardian label ‘Genius’ as his puzzles are kinda Genius anyway.
And next? Anax?
Great to see Monk guesting on the Graun, let alone a Genius (yes they all mostly are that)
I came unstuck with thinking “unliteration” which I dont think exists that made 10 impossible -until fellow Graunista “NINNGLIS” came to my rescue.
Thanks Monk for a great labyrinth.
Thanks all. The more Monks the merrier for me too.
(Minor correction for blog – answer to 14a should be plural)